As Mother Gothel tore through the forest searching for Rapunzel, Flynn and Rapunzel were still searching for a place to eat.

 

"Ah, there it is!" Flynn exclaimed at last. "The Snuggly Duckling!"

 

Rapunzel stared at the little tavern¹. It looked interesting. She cocked her head. The crooked² old wooden building was tucked into the base of a large tree. It seemed as if the tree and the building had grown together and the tree had determined³ which way they would grow. Having never seen any building other than the stone tower, she thought it seemed perfectly⁴ natural that the wooden shingles⁵ and shutters⁶ would fit right into the tree. One wall of the tavern bent⁷ out around a root. The peak of the tavern's roof curved down under a limb. And the tavern seemed wobbly all over.

 

Outside the tavern, there were some horses. They seemed gentle. She wasn't too frightened of them, but she did wonder why they were tied to a fence.

 

"Don't worry," Flynn said. "It's a very quaint⁸ place, perfect for you. Don't want you getting scared and giving up on this whole endeavor, now, do we?"

 

He was determined to terrify that girl right back to her tower, retrieve⁹ his crown, and cash it in.

 

"Well, I do like ducklings," Rapunzel said, trying to be positive as she worried about the possibility of finding ruffians inside.

 

"Who doesn't?" Flynn said brightly. "I'm buying. And by buying," he said with a wink¹⁰, "I mean stealing. And by stealing, I mean taking unlawfully." He chuckled¹¹ to himself. This girl was oh-so na?ve! She was practically clinging to him, her body trembling in fear.

 

"Gar?on!" Flynn shouted to the greasy¹² tavern keeper as they entered the ramshackle establishment. "Your finest table, please!"

 

The tavern was dark and musty inside. It was noisy, too, filled with the sounds of men yelling and fighting, laughing and grumbling¹³. Rapunzel's eyes widened. A silence fell over the room as she and Flynn entered. When her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she looked around. The tavern was filled with a large group of terrifying, Ruffians and thugs! Rapunzel's heart raced. They want my hair!

 

Rapunzel was horrified¹⁴ as she and Flynn made their way through the tavern. The thugs were battle-scarred and wore armor that had been pierced by arrows; they carried axes and spears. Not a single one had bathed or shaved. Poor Pascal turned sickly green when he saw that the cook was making lizard¹⁵ stew¹⁶.

 

Suddenly, Rapunzel felt someone grab a piece of her hair.

 

"That's a lot of hair," the thug said menacingly.

 

"Is that blood in your mustache?" Flynn asked another, smaller thug. "Look at this, look at all the blood in his mustache!" Flynn said to Rapunzel.

 

Rapunzel backed away in terror and bumped into another thug. "Sorry," she said to the man. "Sorry."

 

Flynn could see that Rapunzel was as white as a ghost. His plan was working. "Hey, you don't look so good, Blondie. Maybe we should get you home, call it a day?" he suggested hopefully.

 

"Okay." Rapunzel nodded.

 

"Probably better off doing just that." Flynn shrugged¹⁷. "This is a five-star joint¹⁸, after all. And if you can't handle this place, well, maybe you should be back in your tower."

 

Flynn had opened the door to leave when a huge hand grabbed the door and slammed it. The hand slapped the wanted poster of Flynn onto the door.

 

"Is this you?" the huge man said.

 

Now Flynn turned pale. He was in a room full of thugs, and his experience with thugs was that they didn't show much mercy when a reward was involved.

 

当高瑟妈妈飞快地穿过森林寻找乐佩的时候，费林和乐佩还在找地方吃东西。

 

“啊，在那儿！”费林终于大叫道，“舒适的小鸭酒馆！”

 

乐佩盯着这家小酒馆。酒馆看起来很有意思。她抬起头。歪斜的老木头房子藏在一棵大树的树根里。大树和房子似乎长到了一块儿，而且由树来决定它们俩该往哪儿继续生长。她除了石头高塔外就没有见过别的房子，所以看到木瓦和百叶窗融合进了大树里，便觉得再自然不过。小酒馆的一面墙沿着一条树根向外弯，酒馆的屋顶顺着一条树枝向下弯。整座小酒馆看起来歪歪斜斜的。

 

小酒馆外面站着几匹马，看起来很温顺。她不太怕它们，只是不明白它们为什么会被拴在栅栏上。

 

“别担心，”费林说，“这个地方很古朴，非常适合你。现在，我们可不想让你受到惊吓而放弃一切努力，是吧？”

 

他决心把这个姑娘吓回塔里，拿回他的皇冠，换成现钱。

 

“呃，我确实很喜欢小鸭子。”乐佩说。她努力保持乐观的态度，虽然很担心会在酒馆里遇到无赖。

 

“谁不是呢？”费林轻快地说。“我来买，”他说着眨了下眼睛，“我是说偷，而偷的意思是非法取得。”他咯咯笑了。哦，这个姑娘可真天真啊！她现在几乎紧挨着他，身子因为害怕而微微颤抖。

 

“服务员！”他们走进摇摇欲坠的酒馆，费林对着油腻腻的酒馆掌柜大声说，“请给我你们这儿最好的位子！”

 

酒馆里面很阴暗，有一股霉味。里面还很吵闹，充斥着男人们的大喊大叫、大吵大闹、高声欢笑与低声抱怨。乐佩睁大了眼睛。当她和费林走进去的时候，整个屋子顿时安静了下来。当眼睛适应了屋里的昏暗以后，她环顾四周。这家酒馆里满是一大帮可怕粗野的男人！恶棍和暴徒！乐佩的心怦怦直跳。他们想要我的头发！

 

乐佩和费林穿过酒馆的时候，她惊恐万分。暴徒们身经百战，披着被利箭刺穿的铠甲，握着斧子和长矛。没有一个人洗过澡或刮过脸。可怜的帕斯考看到厨子正在炖蜥蜴的时候，吓成了病怏怏的绿色。

 

突然，乐佩感到有人抓住了她的一缕头发。

 

“头发可真不少啊。”一个恶棍虎视眈眈地说。

 

“你胡子上是血吗？”费林问另一个个头小一点的恶棍。“瞧瞧这个，瞧瞧他胡子上全是血！”费林对乐佩说。

 

乐佩害怕地后退了几步，撞上了另一个恶棍。“对不起，”她对那个男人说，“对不起。”

 

费林看到乐佩的脸色煞白。他的计划成功了。“嘿，你看上去气色不太好，金发美女。也许我们应该让你回家，今天就这样了？”他满怀希望地建议道。

 

“好的。”乐佩点点头。

 

“说不定那样最好。”费林耸了耸肩，“毕竟，这可是五星级连锁酒店。如果你连这个地方都应付不了，那么，你也许应该回塔里去。”

 

费林打开门正要离开，这时一只巨大的手抓住了门，砰的一声把门关上了。这只手把一张通缉费林的告示拍在门上。

 

“这是你吗？”这个体型魁梧的男人问。

 

现在轮到费林脸色苍白了。他在一间满是恶棍的屋子里，过去和恶棍打交道的经验告诉他，只要有利可图，他们是不会心慈手软的。

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